Tally Lake Overlook and Stovepipe Canyon

Friday, May 4, Gary, Joyce and I went hiking. Bill was ill and Sue Ann had other plans.

We decided to hike some more in the Talley Lake area. Thursday's rain meant snow in the mountains, and all the mountains, even the lower ones, were frosted with snow. Our plan was to hike Stovepipe Canyon, then see if the Talley Lake Overlook was snow free.

To get to Stovepipe Canyon we drove on Forest Service Road 2924 as seen in the lower left of the map. From the dotted lines you can see the road formerly went further but now large rocks and a mound of dirt block the road where the dotted line starts. The road we drove on was one lane and gravel/rock/dirt. Large puddles of water from Thursday's rain were across the road in a few spots. We were glad we were in Gary's pickup.

When the Stovepipe Canyon trail (trail 196) leaves the abandoned section of road the trail goes mostly downhill. The elevation change to the lake is 400 ft. The change didn't seem like much, but maybe that was because the trail went down a narrow canyon with little opportunity to see out to get a sense of the change. Or maybe it was because we were distracted by conversation.

The trees here are very tall. A number of them are large, especially some of the old logs laying on the ground.

Even though we hiked down the bottom of the canyon I don't recall hiking next to a creek though the map says we hiked along Tobie Creek.

On the trail we walked by a large and very tall dead pine tree with few branches left. At the flat top was a very large nest that stuck out larger than the tree. In the nest stood a large bird squawking at us. We couldn't decide if the bird was an eagle or an osprey as we had no binoculars.

After 1.4 miles we reached Talley Lake. The shoreline was a few large rocks, logs and clear water. Nothing was developed. We had a nice view of the SE part of Talley Lake. I didn't feel the water - I knew it to be cold.

When we returned to the abandoned road Gary and I hiked to the end of the road. Small pine trees were growing up in the road and were still wet from Thursday's rain. I could not avoid brushing against some of the tree branches and getting wet. We also had to watch where we stepped as there were lots of elk droppings on the road. We also found the partial remains of an antler.

At the end of the road there was no trail. There were lots of tall trees and no ground cover. One could hike any which way over the dead fall. Even the animals couldn't settle on a single route and make a trail.

We then drove back to Forest Service Road 913 and then 9 miles up to the Talley Lake campground at the NW part of the lake. Along the road was a sign listing the length of the lake at 3.5 miles. Talley Lake is the deepest lake in Montana at 492 feet. Mountains are all around the lake which is why the river that flows into and out of the lake are relatively close together at the NW part of the lake. The river enters the lake at the campground then exits the lake on the north side.

The campground host's travel trailer was already set up in the campground. They even had their portable DISH network satellite dish set up. Nothing like roughing it!

There were two other trailers in the campground along the lake. Even though the trees' leaves have not budded out yet, this isn't a bad time to camp. The lake scenery is nice and there are no crowds.

The Talley Lake Overlook trail is trail number 804. Again the road ends at the green area on the map as large rocks block further travel where the dashed lines are shown. My neighbor Bob remembers driving that road in the old days to fish where the river exits the lake. In the old days when logs were transported to the mills via rivers, there was a dam on the river so the loggers could release the water in the Spring and float the logs down the river. I guess the dam no longer exists.

We parked at the end of the road then hiked back a quarter mile to start on the trail. While the Stovepipe Canyon trail was marked with a sign listing the trail number, the overlook trail had no sign until we climbed a short distance up the mountain. Then an old weathered sign told us we were on the correct trail.

The elevation gain listed for this trail is 200 ft. Instead the elevation change seemed almost as much as the 400 ft on the Stovepipe Canyon trail. That may be because this overlook trail had views where one could see out to notice the elevation change.

Along the way we came upon several caches of the remains of nuts and pine cones. All the caches were quite large. The size was larger than a king sized bed. The squirrels ate well this past Winter.

Later we came upon a large grouse. A blue grouse perhaps. It was sunning itself on the side of the trail against a medium sized rock. It walked further off the trail then flew to a low dead tree branch up ahead. It sat on the branch and watched us as we slowly and quietly passed by.

Again there were lots of very tall and large trees on this trail. A mix of pine trees and Western Larch. The Larches' pine needles are starting to bud out now.

The trail was listed at 1.2 miles long. At what we felt was that distance we reached a so-so overlook of the lake. Though the trail continued we felt that since it was starting to go downhill that maybe the trail continued on the the campground's entrance. We debated on whether to continue. We decided to return to Gary's pickup. But moments later Joyce mentioned she would like to continue on the trail if I'd join her. Gary could pick us up after he got the pickup. I said I'd continue on the trail and Gary decided to also continue.

A short time later we came to another overlook of the lake - a far nicer one. We stopped and enjoyed the view of the lake.

Seven large hawks were riding the thermals and winds. They went up and down below and above us. They moved from our side (north side) of the Valley to the south side. We all mused at how we'd like to be able to fly.

On this rocky overlook Gary and I found a few interesting rocks to add to our rock collections. Me more than him, and my pack got weighed down.

A short way further up the trail we came to the end and the best overlook of all. The large two level rocky area had open views of much of the valley and most of the lake. Here one could see how the mountains rose high from all around the lake. The valley was mostly lake with just room for a road on the lake's south side. All mountains were thickly treed with pines. More than one mountain meant curves, varying distances across the valley, and an undulating horizon with at least one saddle where I believe trail 800 climbs over the mountain. All this had a mesmerizing 3-D effect. While I wished I had a camera, I also realized that the 3-D effect mostly likely could not be captured in a picture.

The weather this day was all sorts. The clouds came and went, grew, rained and moved on. We had a couple of very brief sprinkles, and once even had 20 seconds of snow. Most of the rain came over the mountains to the south then moved out over the lake. It was quite beautiful to see the white curtain flow down from a blue/gray cloud and lengthen as the cloud moved from the mountain to the lake. Sometimes the white rain/snow curtain would slip over the saddle and obscure part of another mountain. Then the sun would come out for a time.

If one couldn't have a clear blue sky, this was the next best thing. The constantly changing clouds and cloud colors made the view dramatic, as if the view of the lake wasn't enough.

The overlook also had an area where the rock dropped straight down a ways. It made Joyce nervous when Gary and I stood at the edge to look out or down. We looked down at the tops of very tall pine trees. A few dead and weathered trees were around the overlook. Most had green moss growing on the dead branches. This all added to the view.

We lingered and enjoyed the view, even though we had spent time and also ate our lunch at the previous overlook.

During the hike back Gary and I spotted his pickup below us. Joyce continued on the trail as Gary and I bushwhacked straight to his pickup down the steep mountainside. I was carrying a large rock so Gary made sure he wasn't below me as we scrambled down the mountain. I never lost my balance or the rock.

Near Gary's pickup more rocks caught our eyes until we realized that Joyce probably was waiting where the trail met the road. She was.

All total we hiked 5.2 miles this day with a plan to hike the Talley Lake overlook trail again someday.

The drive back to Kalispell was nice as we traveled on the Farm to Market road and had a different view of the Swan Mountain Range across the valley. Much of the mountains were still frosted in snow. It was good we didn't hike around Glacier Park as Badrock Canyon was filled completely with clouds. But then looking back towards Talley Lake the clouds looked ominous also.

As we drove along the Farm to Market road I noticed that many houses used rocks in their landscaping. This West Valley area is rocky.